Mother’s wins King of Buns competition

Easter has come and gone, with many indulging in bun. But which bun reigned supreme? J.F. Mills decided to find out with its ‘King of the Buns’ competition.

Bakery’s from across the island were invited to compete for the title, with the winner chosen through a blind test. A new category was added to this year’s competition as the University of Technology (UTech) School of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s students were invited to enter to compete for the position of ‘Top Bunna’ with a low sugar Easter Bun.

Let the tasting begin! A slice was carefully selected from each bun, and then they were graded on shape, texture, colour, and fruit distribution before a bite was taken to mark for flavour.

And what’s a bun contest without a bun-eating challenge?

While the judges deliberated, Kareem Bwoyatings and Honica Honi invited guests to step up to the plate and put their bun-eating skills to the test with just water to wash it down. Finishing it before the others to be declared the winner.

Walking away with the ‘King of the Buns’ title and one pallet of 27 bags of 100lb baking flour and the opportunity to attend The American Institute of Baking (AIB) training course was Mother’s Bakery. The second-place prize went to Just Food with their Harvest line of Easter Buns, which won twenty 100lb bags of 100lb flour. And Coleyville Bakery from Mandeville rounded out the top three winning 15 bags of 100lb bakery flour.

According to Carlyle Hudson, managing director of Mother’s Bakery, as a company, they feel well rewarded for the efforts they put into developing an excellent bun.

Hudson said their buns are moist, flavourful, and their general appearance makes them top-class. “Winning the competition will help Mother’s Bakery as the general public will be aware of the number one bun for 2023,” he said.

David McFarlane, key account and business development manager at J.F. Mills, said the bakeries from their customer listing as well as students registered at the University of Technology in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management were invited to participate in the competition.

“There were two categories for this competition, commercial bakeries, and UTech Students. The panel of judges consisted of four UTech lecturers from the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Buns were submitted and labelled with a unique code. The attributes assessed included external characteristics – shape, crust, and volume, internal characteristics – texture, grain, colour, slicing, fruit content, distribution, flavour – taste, aftertaste, and flavour blends. All the attributes were scored, and the buns were then ranked based on their score,” McFarlane said.

He said it is important to note that the judges conducted a blind test on all the buns. Once the winners were ascertained the sealed envelope associated with the unique code on the buns was opened to identify the winner.

Roxane Chambers and Abigail Edwards of Tinkerbell Bunners, and students of the University of Technology’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, were first-place winners in their category.

According to Chambers, they used a different ingredient in producing their bun. “We moved away from the traditional way of making buns. We put a spin on it, just like grandma’s sweet potato pudding, we grated sweet potato and incorporated it, and mixed it into the batter,” said Chambers, who added she gained valuable experience from the exposure in the competition.

Shamada Curtis placed second, and Tianna Brown, Jada Phillips and Ajay Mighty of TAJ Bundet placed third.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com